Silicon Valley gossip blog Valleywag held a competition on Wednesday for readers to send in pictures of the Apple Tablet. Sending a picture in could get senders a reward prize of up to $100,000. The next day however, Apple’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter. This could give some evidence of the Apple Tablet’s existence (It’s like a mystery movie, isn’t it?).

Attorney Michael C. Spillner of the esteemed Silicon Valley firm Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe, sent a letter to Gawker Media, which started with this:

“I am writing on behalf of Apple regarding the notices on Gawker.com and Valleywag.com Web sites that Gawker Media will pay someone a financial reward for sending you photos, video, or a sample of an unannounced and highly confidential Apple product.”

Even though the letter doesn’t say anything about the tablet, it’s covered with claims of infringements on Apple’s trade secrets, does lend credence to the endless speculation that the device–“an unannounced and highly confidential Apple product”–does actually exist.

Although there are hundreds of Apple rumors and such floating around online, Apple rarely does anything about them. However, when Apple has to do something like this, it probably means that the person is on the right path to finding out something that they want to be kept a secret. As CNET reported,

“It’s happened before: unreleased iPod photos showing up on blogs before the product’s official introduction, followed by an Apple C and D letter. It stands to reason that when an image or mock-up of a product appears that isn’t real or accurate, the legal department has no cause for concern.”

However, there’s a problem with breaking nondisclosure agreements and so on (it’s illegal). In the letter, Michael Spillner writes:

“As your offer acknowledges, Apple has maintained the types of information and things that you are soliciting–“how it’ll work, the size, the name, the software,” as well as any possible details about the product’s appearance, features, and physical samples–in strict confidence. Anyone who might have access to such information would be bound under the strictest contractual obligations not to disclose the information to third parties.”

Hm. Looks like Apple is trying to hide something to me. Well, we’ll see on January 27th.